Firm R&D Behavior and Evolving Technology in Established Industries

Anne Marie Knott () and Hart E. Posen ()
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Anne Marie Knott: Olin School of Business, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130
Hart E. Posen: Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109

Organization Science, 2009, vol. 20, issue 2, 352-367

Abstract: One of the key mechanisms of firms' strategic renewal is R&D, and a key driver of the intensity of R&D is industry context. A number of theories develop propositions linking industry factors to firm R&D behavior, but these theories lack consensus. To date, empirical tests have been unable to resolve the competing predictions because of lack of time-varying measures of technology. We create new measures for technology and then conduct a test of the competing theories. Our results indicate that the data best match a model of innovative behavior in which firms invest in R&D principally to regain eroded advantage rather than to pursue the new frontier.

Keywords: technological opportunity; appropriability; R&D (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:20:y:2009:i:2:p:352-367

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